Portable telephone

ABSTRACT

A portable telephone has a telephone body ( 1 ) with a first liquid crystal display ( 2 ) formed on the frontal face of the telephone body, a swingable plate ( 4 ) connected by a hinge ( 3 ) to one of lateral edges of said body ( 1 ), and a second liquid crystal display ( 5 ) formed in and disposed on the swingable plate ( 4 ). The second crystal display ( 5 ) will be at its exposed position to face backwards when the plate ( 4 ) is at its closed position folded back in a close contact with the rear face of the telephone body ( 1 ), and the swingable plate ( 4 ) can pivot forwards so that the second display ( 5 ) faces the same direction as the first display ( 2 ). The portable telephone of the invention can be used as it is to serve as an ordinary portable telephone, with its main liquid crystal display ( 2 ), but its swingable plate folded back on the back of its body may be put into a reversed position so that its supplementary display cooperates with the main display to form an enlarged area for displaying any information of a large volume such as obtained through INTERNET or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a portable telephone having a liquidcrystal display device installed therein to display characters and/orimages.

2. Background Art

Recently, portable telephones have been made smaller and smaller in sizeto be more convenient to carry. On the other hand, supplementaryfunctions have been added to the normal ones of each portable telephoneserving as a terminal output equipment for receiving information throughINTERNET and/or from the like data source. Thus, larger liquid crystaldevices are required to indicate thereon the information or data of sucha larger volume. One of the proposals that has been made to meet thisrequirement is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Early PublicationGazette No. 11-249596. According to this proposal, a lid is attached tothe first or ordinary liquid crystal display of a telephone body so asto be opened and closed relative thereto. In this case, a second liquidcrystal display is formed in the inner face of such a lid such that whenthe lid is opened during use of this telephone the first and seconddisplay swill serve as portions of an integrated multi-display device.

It is however to be noted that such a prior proposal is not necessarilyconvenient to use. This is because the lid remains closed to hide thefirst display built in the telephone body, unless or until intentionallyopened to allow an operator or user to look at the display in normal useof the portable telephone. It also is a problem that such an additionalsecond liquid crystal display is not indispensable but rather useless tonormal and ordinary operation of this telephone.

A primary object of the present invention made to resolve the drawbacksof the prior art is therefore to provide a portable telephone with asecond liquid crystal display in addition to a first or ordinary liquidcrystal display built in the telephone, such that the first display canplay its normal role as it is and as usual. The second display that hasbeen folded back to rear of the telephone body has to be reversedforwards so that the first and second displays form an extended displayfor indicating the information of a large capacity received throughINTERNET or the like.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve this object, the present invention employs thefollowing technical features. A portable telephone provided herein has atelephone body having a first liquid crystal display formed on thefrontal face of the telephone body, a swingable plate connected by ahinge to one of the lateral edges of said body, and a second liquidcrystal display formed in and disposed on the swingable plate. Thesecond crystal display will be at its exposed position to face backwardswhen the plate is in its closed position folded back in a close contactwith the rear face of the telephone body, and the swingable plate iscapable of pivoting forwards so that the second display faces the samedirection as the first display.

Alternatively, a portable telephone provided herein may have, as shownin FIGS. 4 and 5, a telephone body having a first liquid crystal displayformed on the frontal face of the telephone body, swingable platesrespectively connected by hinges to lateral edges of said body, and asecond liquid crystal display and a third liquid crystal display thatare formed in and disposed on the respective swingable plates. Thesecond and third displays will be at their exposed position to facebackwards when the plates are at their closed position folded backclosely to the rear face of the telephone body, and the swingable platesare capable of pivoting forwards so that the second and third displaysdo face the same direction as the first display.

As seen in FIG. 3, the second or third liquid crystal display may extendsubstantially over the full height of the telephone body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable telephone provided in a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the telephone shown in FIG. 1 and in sucha state that its swingable plate has pivoted to its frontal position;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation similar to FIG. 2 but showing the portabletelephone in another embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation similar to FIG. 2 but showing the portabletelephone in still another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the telephone shown in FIG. 4 and in such astate that its swingable plate has been folded back; and

FIG. 6 is a front elevation similar to FIG. 2 but showing the portabletelephone in a further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Now, structural features of the present invention will be describedreferring to embodiments shown in the drawings, wherein FIGS. 1 and 2illustrate a portable telephone provided in a first embodiment with abody generally denoted by the reference numeral 1. The body 1 has afixed shape with a frontal face F, a rear face R, and spaced lateraledges LE1. LE2. Similarly to the ordinary and conventional portabletelephones, the telephone body 1 has herein a first liquid crystaldisplay 2, a plurality of manipulative buttons 7, a microphone 8, aspeaker 9 and an antenna 10 that is disposed on top of said body. Themanipulative buttons 7, microphone 8, and speaker 9 are provided at thefrontal face F.

A hinge 3 secured to one of lateral edges LE2 of the telephone body 1connects thereto the swingable plate 4, permitting it to be folded backin contact with the back/rear face R of said body 1. At such a closedposition of the plate 4 held in a close and direct contact with the backof telephone body 1, a second liquid crystal display 5 installed in theplate 4 will be exposed to face rearwards in the outer surface thereof.The swingable plate 4 can swivel to bring the second display 5 into areversed/open position facing in the same direction as the first one 2.In this position, the manipulative buttons 7, microphone 8, and speaker9 are exposed.

When using the portable telephone of the invention as an ordinarytelephone, an operator or user may leave the swingable plate 4 directlycontacting the back of telephone body 1. The first liquid crystaldisplay 2 at such a position of this telephone body will work toindicate a telephone number or the like characters possibly togetherwith any symbols or the like figures. If the first display 2 has to showthereon any information of large volume such as those received throughINTERNET or the like data source, then the swingable plate 4 that hasbeen folded back on the said back of telephone body will be operated totake a reversed position as illustrated in FIG. 2. At this position, thesecond liquid crystal display 5 cooperates with the first one 2 in thetelephone body 1 to form an extended image area wide enough to match anintegrity of information elements of a large capacity, including thecharacters and figures.

Preferably, a simple latch or like engagement mechanism may beincorporated to act between the body 1 and plate 4 to stabilize both thefolded and extended positions of the swingable plate 4, whether in orout of contact with the back of the telephone body 1.

It may be possible to form the second display 5 to extend substantiallyover the full height of the telephone body 1, as seen in FIG. 3.

In still another embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,both the lateral edges LE1, LE2 adjacent the rear of said body 1 havehinges 3 and 3′ formed integral therewith. These hinges 3 and 3′ connecttwo swingable plates 4 and 4′ to the telephone body 1 so as to permitthem to be folded into contact, one with the other and with the back ofsaid body. At such a closed position of plates 4 and 4′ held in contactwith the back of telephone body 1, the second liquid crystal display 5and a third one 6 installed in these plates will be exposed to facerearwards in the outer surfaces thereof. Similarly to the embodimentdescribed above, the swingable plate 4 and 4′ can also swivel to bringthe second and third displays 5 and 6 into a reversed position facingthe same direction in which the first one 2 does face. At this position,the second and third liquid crystal displays 5 and 6 cooperate with thefirst one 2 in the telephone body 1 in such a fashion that a much biggerextended image area will be provided.

A twice-folded portable telephone may also be provided in a furtherembodiment as shown in FIG. 6. In this case, a main part 1 a withmanipulative buttons 7 and a panel part 1 b with the liquid crystaldisplay 2 constitute a telephone body 1. A transverse hinge 11 enablesthe main part 1 a to be folded onto the panel part 1 b, and similarly tothe first embodiment a swingable plate 4 with the second display 5 willpivot around the hinge 3 so as to normally contact the back of the panelpart 1 b of said body 1. Alternatively, this plate 4 may be secured tothe main part 1 a of said telephone body, likewise contacting the backof this part 1 a normally.

Some representative embodiments are described above, although they maybe modified in varied manners insofar as any similar constituentelements or parts are employed to achieve the object of invention and toafford the same effects and advantages as noted below.

In summary, the portable telephone of the invention can be used as it isto serve as an ordinary portable telephone, with its main liquid crystaldisplay giving images of a telephone number or the like characters aswell as figurative images. Its swingable plate folded back on the backof its body may be put into a reversed position so that itssupplementary display cooperates with the main display to form anadvantageous enlarged area for simultaneously displaying any informationof a large volume.

1. A portable telephone comprising: a telephone body with a fixed shapehaving a frontal face, a rear face and spaced lateral edges, thetelephone body comprising manipulative buttons, a speaker, a microphone,and a first liquid crystal display formed on the frontal face of thetelephone body on which characters and symbols related to telephonefunction can be displayed, a swingable plate connected by a hinge to oneof the lateral edges of said body, and a second liquid crystal displayformed in and disposed on the swingable plate, wherein the secondcrystal display will be in an exposed position to face backwards whenthe plate is in a closed position folded back in a close contact withthe rear face of the telephone body, and the swingable plate is capableof pivoting forwards from the closed position to an open position sothat the second display faces the same direction as the first display,the manipulative buttons, speaker, and microphone exposed at the frontalface with the swingable plate in each of the closed and open positions,the first and second liquid crystal displays each capable of displayingthereon data from a data source such as the INTERNET, the first andsecond liquid cystal displays capable of cooperatively defining anextended image area to display data with the swingable plate in its openposition.
 2. The portable telephone according to claim 1 wherein thereis a latch that acts between the body and swingable plate to stabilizethe swingable plate in at least one of the open and closed positions. 3.The portable telephone according to claim 1 wherein one of the lateraledges has a height and the second crystal display extends oversubstantially the full height of the one of the lateral edges.
 4. Theportable telephone according to claim 1 further comprising a cover platethat is connected to the swingable plate by a hinge.
 5. A portabletelephone with capability to display information from the INTERNET, andcomprising: an elongate telephone body with a frontal face, two opposedlateral edges and two opposed ends and a rear face, and having a set ofbuttons on a lower part of the frontal face and a first liquid crystaldisplay formed on an upper part of the frontal face of the telephonebody on which characters and symbols related to telephone function canbe displayed, with a transverse hinge between the upper part and thelower part, a first swingable plate connected by a hinge to one of thelateral edges of said body, and a second liquid crystal display formedin and disposed on the swingable plate, wherein the second crystaldisplay will be at a first exposed position and facing backwards whenthe plate is at its closed position folded back in a close contact withthe rear face of the telephone body, and the swingable plate is capableof pivoting forwards so that the second display in a second exposedposition faces the same forward direction as the first display and isadapted to cooperate with the first display to form an extended display,the first and second liquid crystal displays each capable of displayingthereon data from a data source such as the INTERNET, the first andsecond liquid crystal displays capable of cooperatively defining anextended image area to display data with the swingable plate in its openposition.